Located on the corner of Grand and Warren streets in the heart of Downtown Jersey City, St. Peter's Prep was just as affected by Hurricane Sandy as much of the area surrounding it.

However, despite flood damage that has closed several buildings on Prep's campus, the school had classes yesterday.

"This is a testament to the dedication of our students and staff," said St. Peter's Prep principal James DeAngelo.

Since the school's reopening with an assembly on Wednesday, DeAngelo said that about 90 per cent of the students have reported despite transportation difficulty.

DeAngelo said students carpooled or used alternate forms of transportation to get to school. The school also set up two shuttle buses from Verona's Our Lady of the Lake Church and the Short Hills Mall to help students get in for class.

While the spirit of the Prep community remains in tact, much of the facilities aren't.

Floodwaters that rose 6 feet or more in some spots did heavy damage in the basements of Mulry Hall, Hogan Hall and the Moriarty Science Center. Besides water damage to sheetrock, the contents of the rooms - desks, chairs, music instruments, Mac computers, textbooks - have been ruined.

Construction crews have already started the restoration process. Workers have removed much of thesheetrock in hopes of a gradual restoration of service.

"There will be a phased return of buildings," said Prep director of communications Mike Jiran. "Some fixes could take weeks or months, but we're working on isolating the lower levels of the building."

For many teachers, getting back on campus was just returning to a sense of normal life.

"I missed being at work," said Maura Toomb, director of Campus Ministry. "I wanted to get back to a sense of normalcy."

Toomb believes that the students were equally ready to get back to school.

"A lot of the students wanted to be here," Toomb said. "Students have been asking what to do since the storm hit. This place is a large part of who they are."